Doctor Fish Foot Therapy in Taiwan

By Brian On July 10, 2012 · 1 Comment

Apparently, this is a thing. You put your feet in a pool of fish, commonly known as doctor fish, and let them munch away the dead skin cells. Not only is this a thing, but it seems to be a popular thing with many countries having their own foot-feeding-fish spas. While in some places it's cleanliness has been challenged (it has been banned in some states in the US as well as some Canadian provinces) it's popularity seems to be growing and in recent years Cyprinion macrostomum fish (the most common type of doctor fish) features have been popping up all over Taiwan.

Hungry

I came across this one during one of the many random agricultural tourism trips my family and I take on weekends. This one happened to be located on a tourist farm in Hsinchu County, a couple hours south of Taipei. They don't seem to have a website, but if you have the means to travel here's a Google Pin Drop of the location. If you use the satellite view you can see the actual complex.

I was told by those that participated (I didn't) that it felt like lots of tiny little suckers pulling at your skin. To those that weren't yet accustomed it must have been a weird experience.

Emotional

There was more than enough room and more than enough nibbling fish for everyone.

Doctor

As with other tourist farms in Taiwan, there were more things to do than just have your feet nibbled on my fish. There were also cooking lessons on making Korean kimchi and muoji, a Taiwanese Hakka desert specialty made from gluttonous rice pounded into a gooey paste.

Making

As with most Taiwanese outdoor locales, there was also a koi fish pond and stream with food pellets and baby bottles available to feed them with. Yes, I said 'koi fish…baby bottles…feed'.

Fishing

Fishing

Bottle-feeding

All-in-all it was a great day well-spent. The total cost for chartered bus, a lunch of rice noodles (which was awesome), cooking lessons, and fascinating friendly ferocioisly foot-feeding fish was NT$800/person. It was arranged via the popular local blog & forums website BabyHome.

A couple more photos.